Patricia Kosseim, Senior General Counsel and Director General, Legal Services, Policy, Research and Technology Analysis for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, was asked, at the request of Commission’s counsel, to provide an overview of the legislation for protecting privacy in Canada and to answer questions about lawful access issues from a federal perspective.

Canada, like many countries, must answer a fundamental question: How does it achieve its law enforcement and national security objectives while also protecting and respecting the privacy rights of its citizens? “We hope the current administration and its privacy opponents can reach reasonable compromises that allow both groups to achieve their desired outcomes” Chris Stevens, CIPP/US, CIPP/C, CIPP/E, CIPP/G, CIPM, CIPT, and Steve Holland, CIPM, write. In this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor, they look at the high-stakes issues facing Canada’s quest to balance the two priorities and whether Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is the right man to help it do so.